The Big 12 expansion groundswell

[Eddie]

I
...Nebraska wants to be on the BTN and the Huskers want the words "Nebraska" and "Big Ten" mentioned together as much as possible. Why? Because Nebraska has an underrated academic reputation - they want and need the branding of a Big Ten school...

All of the Ute paraphernalia with the prominent PAC12 labeling make so much more sense now.

I swear - for a while there I thought that Utah had changed their name to the Utah PAC12's.

[woot]

All of the Ute paraphernalia with the prominent PAC12 labeling make so much more sense now.

I swear - for a while there I thought that Utah had changed their name to the Utah PAC12's.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to their academics. Penn State has risen quickly in all the rankings since joining the B10; it has been a big boost to their ability to attract good students and faculty. Nebraska enters the conference dead last in academics by a significant margin, but I assume they will catch up over the next decade or so.

[Flystripper]

I've been tooting this horn for a little while now. Independence is the way of the future for the most powerful teams in college sports simply because the conference revenue model will be obsolete when broadband TV and school-specific networks hit certain saturation points.

Scheduling difficulties, bowl tie-ins, motivation, etc. - none of them are the real reasons few teams are still independent. The actual reason is TV revenue. Once it becomes clear that the maximum revenue no longer exists in conferences, but in proprietary networks, then the era of conferences - and super conferences - is over as we know it.

Every school owning their own network does not necessarily equal the end of conferences. Conference affiliation is important for many reasons including:

1. Academic and athletic reputation through association with other like-minded universities. This reason gets poo-pooed but it is a factor and will continue to remain so as long as academics are running universities.

2. Scheduling. Yes more independents would eventually make scheduling easier but ease of scheduling as an independant is years and years away especially if superconferences come before most big schools have an individual network. (though this post is not specifically about BYU I can't help but say that BYU can't afford to sit on the outside while waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.)

3. Even if every school has their own network they will still need ratings and/or subscribers in order to be viable. Most university fanbases do not offer enough of a subscriber base or ratings to make a network work without conference partnerships. Without a conferences rivalries dissolve and become less meaningful. These are fuel to the ratings machine that is college football.

4. Other sports need conferences. Football may eventually find a way to have most of the major players operate as an independant, but conferences for other sports are not going the way of the dinosaur.

[Uncle Ted]

It'll be interesting to see what happens to their academics. Penn State has risen quickly in all the rankings since joining the B10; it has been a big boost to their ability to attract good students and faculty. Nebraska enters the conference dead last in academics by a significant margin, but I assume they will catch up over the next decade or so.

Yes, indeed. For Penn State and other examples see:

http://redthread.utah.edu/academic-r...for-the-u/5840

http://opb.msu.edu/institution/cuc/d...-athletics.pdf

Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1990. At the time it joined the Big Ten it had research expenditures in the $350 million range and comparable to the University of Texas and Texas A&M University, both top tier research universities. By 2009, however, Penn State had doubled its research expenditures to $780 million, far surpassing both UT ($580 million) and A&M ($600 million), due in large part to the enhanced academic competition of its peer group in the Big Ten. Other metrics indicated comparable improvements on the academic side of campus, including an increase in graduation rates from 57% in 1990 to 85% in 2009 and an improvement in average SAT scores from well below 1100 to well above 1200 (using math and reading scores combined).

[LiveCoug]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...pact-shuffling

[Paperback Writer]

It'll be interesting to see what happens to their academics. Penn State has risen quickly in all the rankings since joining the B10; it has been a big boost to their ability to attract good students and faculty. Nebraska enters the conference dead last in academics by a significant margin, but I assume they will catch up over the next decade or so.

Like Penn St., Nebraska is hoping to make similar improvements with Big Ten membership. They have already improved over the last decade but it wasn't enough to save their AAU membership. Being in the Big Ten will help immensely and many are on record as stating that the academic benefits of Big Ten membership are more significant than the athletic benefits. I know of east coast families who send their kids to Wisconsin or Chicago area familes who send their students to Iowa; only because they are Big Ten schools (and the kids didn't get accepted into their schools of preference). Nebraska has changed its mission and is being more selective in its admissions and drawing greater numbers of out-of-state students. Before, Nebraska had a very high acceptance rate and saw its mission as educating the masses with low tuition - why go to junior college when Nebraska will accept you and the price will be similar? There are merits to this approach but it can (and did) damage its academic reputation. Back when I graduated from HS in Nebraska, it was not uncommon for better students to go to school out of state. What was even more telling, was the number of children of Nebraska faculty who did not matriculte at Nebraska. Hopefully, those days are gone.

[Jeff Lebowski]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...pact-shuffling

Interesting tidbit at the end:

There is also some pushback in football recruiting due to the indecision, the source said. If the Tigers aren't in a conference with Texas-based schools, then it can dramatically affect the lure of playing at Mizzou.

"There are a bunch of Texas kids now saying that they're not sure now," said the source. "If Missouri is in the SEC then that's OK, but if it's in the ACC or the Big East then that may not."

[Blueintheface]

Interesting tidbit at the end:

I just posted that and deleted it. I too thought it was interesting. Recruiting Texas will alway mean something to these schools.

[Uncle Ted]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...pact-shuffling

I heard on the radio today that Baylor may be facing an est. $15M/year deficit if the Big 12 blows up and they have to join the c-usa or something. They have committed to build a new stadium.

Iowa State went ahead with projects after the Fox contract was completed and took out $40 million in bonds based on the deal. Iowa State has invested $5 million in a new video board, $20 million in a football building and an estimated $15 million in a sports complex for track, soccer and softball. The video board project began in July for this football season and the other two projects are under construction.

"The taxpayers of Iowa can't pay if those bonds fall through," a source said Wednesday. "These are real questions, real situations. I'm not sure how (Iowa State) could waive those (legal) rights (to sue the SEC)."

This kind of smells like a potential class action lawsuit by taxpayers(government) and bond holders.

On the recruiting issue... as a parent of a college football prospect I would have reservations about our son playing for a school that requires him to travel across two zones for away games which also implies in seeing very little of him playing in Texas. It seems this article confirms other parents feel that same way.

[MarkGrace]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...pact-shuffling

Sounds like a total mess.

[Jacob]

This kind of smells like a potential class action lawsuit by taxpayers(government) and bond holders.

It smells like something, but not that. Neither taxpayers nor Iowa St. or Baylor bond-holders would have any standing to sue the B12 or Texas.

[LiveCoug]

More rollercoaster stuffs.

Hearing now the #big12 may be giving OU what they want to stay. Hearing UT like dollars to OU to keep them to stay.....Also hearing that if they secure OU there will be a "death clause" put in for all the members if they try to leave. up to 70 mil to leave

[Shaka]

The B12 saga is quite possibly the best soap opera I've ever watched.

[Jeff Lebowski]

More rollercoaster stuffs.

Hearing now the #big12 may be giving OU what they want to stay. Hearing UT like dollars to OU to keep them to stay.....Also hearing that if they secure OU there will be a "death clause" put in for all the members if they try to leave. up to 70 mil to leave

Ha. I am calling BS on that one.

[LiveCoug]

Ha. I am calling BS on that one.

which part? The 70 million out clause? Yeah, that seems way to hefty. But the first part makes some sense....